


Possession

by Nation_Ustria



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Aftermath of Possession, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Background Cole, Background Jay, Background Kai, Background Nya, Both of those are very mildly described, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Happy Ending, Lloyd Garmadon Centric, Lloyd Garmadon Needs Therapy, Lloyd Garmadon Needs a Break, Lloyd Garmadon Needs a Hug, Lloyd Garmadon Whump, Lloyd Garmadon does not deserve all the crap he gets put through, Lloyd Garmadon has a Crush, Lloyd Garmadon's POV, Mild Depictions of Psychological Torture, Morro is Awful, No Morro Redemption, One Shot, Plot Twists, Possession, Psychological Torture, Rating based on mild descriptions of Psychological Torture, Seriously it's really very mild, nothing graphic, oh i forgot to mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27599780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nation_Ustria/pseuds/Nation_Ustria
Summary: When Lloyd Garmadon is possessed by Morro, instead of going on a destructive vendetta the ghost simply replaces him, impersonating him so well that not even the other ninja realize what has happened. Meanwhile, Morro tortures Lloyd inside his own mind with a cruelty that not even the Overlord could match. When Morro decides to add a new facet to the game—setting out to break the heart of Lloyd's secret crush, a stranger he's fallen for by observing her on patrols—the already defeated ninja has to fight to protect her.Angst with a happy endingRating for extremely mild descriptions of psychological torture (really they're very mild)
Relationships: Lloyd Garmadon & Morro, Lloyd Garmadon/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22





	Possession

**Author's Note:**

> So I spent all day writing this and I think it's pretty decent, so that's fun. The main girl, Kathryn Alivon, is the first character I ever created for anything (I came up with her as Lloyd's friend when when I was pretty little), and she's kind of Lloyd's partner/soulmate in my mind so if I ever get around to writing the other ideas I've come up with you'll see a lot of her in different contexts.
> 
> This is unbeta'd and unproofread (it took me eight hours to write this), so please excuse any typos.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> ❤️

It had been Lloyd’s little secret. And yeah, he knew that he wasn’t really supposed to keep secrets—but it wasn’t like this one could actually hurt anything. If he had told the others, it would have only given them more ammo to tease him with. They were his big brothers, after all, how could they not?

It was just a crush.

He hadn’t meant for it to happen or anything. He’d been on patrol, scanning for the usual—thieves, thugs, etc. It’d been a while since Master Chen’s whole “competition of elements” or whatever, and no new big baddie had shown their face, so Lloyd was finally starting to relax. Starting to heal. Not that he was letting down his guard, but he was letting himself enjoy life again. Focusing less on the whole the-safety-of-the-world-was-on-his-shoulders thing. So he was actually paying attention to the little moments happening on the streets—a grandmother hugging her grandson, a man proposing to his girlfriend, so many others—and each moment was beautiful. They reminded him what he had gone through the crap storm that was his life for.

Then he saw her.

It was the hair that caught his eye. Light—almost white—and messy, just like his, though she wore hers longer and in a loose ponytail that cascaded down her back. Her laugh was what fully grabbed his attention, though. She was on the phone, doing her work at whatever craft stall she was manning with one hand. Whoever she was talking to must have said something funny, because her laugh was loud and hard, but somehow melodic at the same time. Pure. Even better, she threw back her head as she laughed, giving Lloyd the chance to properly see her face from three stories up. She looked to be around the same age he thought he was—fifteen or so—and she was _beautiful_.

And Lloyd was smitten. Which was stupid, being smitten with a stranger—she hadn’t even noticed him, much less had they actually _interacted_. He did kind of want to talk to her—he definitely fantasized about it—but nerves stopped him. Which, again, was stupid, considering all the stuff he’d done in the past. So he most definitely did _not_ tell the others about her. They’d _never_ let him live it down.

He detoured past her stall whenever he patrolled the city. She was there most days, always busy with one thing or another. Lloyd would hover on the roof, watching her for a few minutes before he forced himself to keep moving. And each time, he fell for her a bit more—fell for her genuine, kind manner as she greeted every customer with a smile and—if they were regulars—by name, no matter how tired. Fell for the way she fiddled with her hair when business was slow, twisting the end of her ponytail around one finger without end. Fell for the way she treated children with respect, kneeling down to their level when talking with them. Fell for the way that she snuck treats out of her backpack when she thought no one was looking.

He’d considered, of course, that it was possibly all her ‘customer service’ persona. The possibility seemed less and less viable (he only knew that word because of Zane) as time went on, though. There were times he’d see her in different parts of the city, going about whatever business she had, and she seemed like the same person—cheerful and energetic if in a good mood, or calm—almost serene—if not. That was another thing he loved about her, actually. She never got angry, at least not visibly. Whether she was dealing with an unruly customer or a tantruming child, she never raised her voice, never used a harsh tone. She went calm, instead, using even words to diffuse the situation. She’d even talked down a potential _robber_ once—somehow she’d seen his hidden knife and calmly instructed him through making a purchase at a large discount, leaving the would-be robber a bit bewildered as he left. The whole exchange had seemed a bit odd from Lloyd’s point of view, and it was only once Lloyd recognized the guy as one of the criminals that the police had asked him to look out for that he realized what he’d been intending to do. He’d apprehended him in an alley a few streets over—no need to cause a scene.

No matter what happened, stopping by to see the girl quickly became Lloyd’s favorite time of day. After a few weeks the thought occurred to him that him watching her from a roof on a daily basis was sort of stalker-ish. Hopefully it actually wasn’t? He only stopped by for a few minutes each day, after all, and it wasn’t like he was _actually_ stalking her—he didn’t know where she lived or anything. He actually didn’t even know her _name_. All of her customers just called her ‘Miss’, which wasn’t much help—unless ‘Miss’ _was_ her name, which he doubted.

Either way, he was stupidly, irrationally in love.

*****

Lloyd made his way up the museum’s steps, his eyes scanning the building. The call said there’d been a break-in, but Lloyd’s quick round of the building hadn’t revealed any broken windows or faulty locks. As a matter of fact, the only reason he could tell that something was wrong at all was the police tape that stretched across the open doorway.

Lloyd sighed. The night guard had probably just gotten jumpy again. There were way too many replicas of Ninjago’s villains on display for anyone _not_ to accidentally mistake one for the real thing in the dark at least once.

Even if this was the eighth time.

Still, it was better than dressing up in Uncle Wu’s ridiculous promotional outfits. Wandering around the city with a teapot on his head? _Not_ something Lloyd had wanted to do. Or would ever want to do. Though unfortunately, Wu would probably rope him into it at some point.

“Well, lookie here. The Green Ninja! Feel safer already,” one of the policemen said happily as Lloyd flipped over the police tape.

“I got your call. There was a break-in?” Lloyd asked. He took his hood off, quickly scanning the displays in the entry room for anything missing. As of yet, everything seemed accounted for.

“The night watchman over there had quite the scare. Doesn't remember a thing,” the other policeman said, nodding to a man at the side of the room. He was sitting on one of the benches set between pillars, wrapped in a shock blanket and holding what Lloyd assumed to be a cup of tea.

“Hasn't been too helpful,” the first policeman added. “Uh, maybe you'll have better luck.”

“Thanks,” Lloyd said, walking to the watchman. He heard the policemen say something to each other behind him, but he wasn’t really listening. Instead he was dissecting what little information he had. Something didn’t seem right. First there was no sign of a break-in, and now the guard didn’t remember anything?

Something weird was going on. Again.

“So you were on guard when it happened?” Lloyd asked the watchman as he reached him. The watchman didn’t respond, just breathed heavily as he looked up at Lloyd. Maybe he was having a panic attack? “Can you show me what was stolen?” Lloyd added carefully. The watchman kept staring. Lloyd tried not to frown. Man, the guy was really out of it.

Lloyd placed a hand on the watchman’s shoulder, hoping that it would help ground him. “I'm here to help you,” he said, softening his voice.

That got a reaction. The watchman dropped his teacup, snatching Lloyd’s wrist as the porcelain shattered on the ground. Lloyd barely registered what was happening before the watchman was yanking him down the hall at a surprising speed—so fast that Lloyd couldn’t make out what one of the policemen was shouting after them.

The watchman pulled Lloyd into one of the backrooms, nearly slamming the doors shut behind them. Lloyd shook out his wrist as subtly as he could—the man had had a death grip.

“I was knocked out,” the watchman said. His voice was oddly level, but Lloyd decided to chalk it up to shock. “When I came to,” the watchman continued, pointing at a crate that leaned against the wall, “I found the only thing stolen was something that wasn't even on display. Just a worthless old armor brass plate they call ‘The Allied Armor of Azure’.”

Lloyd crouched, taking a good look into the crate. It had obviously held something, once—the Allied Armor, undoubtedly—but all that was left now was the sand that had cushioned it. “Why would a thief leave these priceless relics and take just that?” Lloyd asked. He started examining the sides of the crate for clues—it didn’t look like it had been busted open. Maybe they’d used the museum’s tools?

“Oh, I don't know,” the watchman said behind him. “Maybe it's because when you're in trouble, they say it's got the power to summon allies, whether they be friends, foes, even spirits from the Cursed Realm.”

Hang on— _what?_ “The Cursed Realm? My father's there—” He turned to the watchman just in time to see him swinging a sledgehammer at his face.

_Great._

Lloyd threw himself out of the way, landing hard on the museum’s tiles. The watchman kept coming after him, slamming the hammer into the space that Lloyd had been in only moments before as he ducked away. Lloyd jumped to his feet, backing away.

The blanket that had been draped around the watchman’s shoulders fell away, revealing a fancy-looking breastplate strapped over the watchman’s security uniform.

It didn’t take much to put two and two together. “The Allied Armor. _You_ stole it?” he exclaimed, still backing away.

The watchman’s next words were full of fury. “So Wu chose _you_ to be the beloved Green Ninja? Silly old man.”

What? This didn’t—Lloyd backed into something that occupied the corner of the room. Wonderful, he was out of space. He considered just taking the hammer. It wasn’t like a security guard was much of a threat, after all, though Lloyd didn’t want to have to hurt him. But something was most _definitely_ off. “How do you know Sensei?” he asked. “And if you've got a bone to pick with me, maybe we can discuss things without weapons?”

The watchman lunged at him, growling, but Lloyd darted out of the way—just in time for the stack of boxes that the watchman had hit instead to come toppling towards them. Lloyd ducked, making himself as small as possible.

The boxes missed him. The watchman didn’t seem as lucky. Lloyd jumped over the largest box to get to him, pushing smaller boxes off the man. He was laying spread-eagle on the ground, dazed.

“I don't want to hurt you,” Lloyd said.

The watchman snarled—then went limp, collapsing on the floor. For a moment Lloyd’s blood froze—was he dead?

And then a _shadow_ came out of him. It darted from the watchmen up to a portrait of Chen on the wall, then vanished. And then the painted Chen started to _move_.

Lloyd stared at it, confused. This was a whole new level of weird.

“What's going on?” the watchman asked. So he was alive, which was good, and wasn’t attacking Lloyd anymore, though Lloyd couldn’t tear his eyes away from the portrait to see if he was hurt. He sounded alright.

But the watchman’s next words sent waves of ice through Lloyd’s body—“Someone was in my head.”

The portrait started to _laugh_.

Lloyd’s next actions were more instinctual than anything—he yanked the painting off of the wall, spinning and smashing it against a large statue of a serpentine. It fell to the ground, the frame shattered, and for a moment Lloyd stupidly hoped that that was the end of it. But the shadow reappeared, quickly making its way from the portrait to the statue.

The statue came alive, turning to look down at Lloyd. “Your powers are useless. You think you can hurt a ghost?” Its tail started to unwind from around its pedestal. Lloyd took a step back, but before he got any farther the tail swung at him. “I can possess anything!” Lloyd tried to dodge but failed, the tail wrapping around him and jerking him up into the air. It curled tight around Lloyd's chest and he cried out as pain tore through him, spots filling his vision. 

The statue went still, metal hard and unyielding. Lloyd blinked away the spots to see the shadow floating through the air, arcing up and along the skylight roof. It dove into the sand that had spilled out of the crate, and the sand rose in the air, starting to spin.

 _Crap._ Lloyd struggled against the serpentine’s tail, but it wouldn’t budge. Why would it, it was _metal!_

The sand started forming into a _person_. Lloyd could just make out a man’s form and long hair when the watchman started babbling from the other side of the room. “When he was in my head, I saw his thoughts. The world. The world will be cursed!”

 _Cursed_ — _possess_ —the sand-guy was _floating_. Things started clicking together in Lloyd’s mind. “You're a ghost from the Cursed Realm,” he realized out loud. “But how did you escape?”

The ghost sand-figure rose into the air, smirking. “When your father opened a door, he should've been more careful what came out.” He lunged at Lloyd, bursting into a cloud of sand. Lloyd screwed his eyes shut, then realized it wasn’t aimed at him—it seemed to be grinding against the metal that was holding him. Which didn’t make much sense, but at this point Lloyd didn’t bother trying to figure it out. He scrambled desperately for a plan—then realized he had an option.

“Hurry, the Allied Armor!” Lloyd yelled at the watchman. “Give it to me!”

The watchman scrambled to obey, but no sooner was the armor in Lloyd’s hands it was jerked away, and then he was being flipped out of the statue’s hold, landing hard on his back on the ground.

 _Ow._ Okay, that hurt. Lloyd pushed himself up as the watchman screamed, “Behind you!”

Lloyd turned just in time to see the sand reform into the ghost-figure, this time wearing the armor.

“You can't have the Armor!” Lloyd shouted desperately. Smart thinking—not like the ghost already _had_ it.

“The Armor's nice,” the ghost said. “But it's not the only thing I want to possess.”

“What else do you want?” Lloyd demanded. Something that would give him power, probably.

“ _You!_ ”

The figure slammed against Lloyd, sand scratching against his face, but Lloyd barely noticed the pain as he screamed—something was getting _inside_ of him! It burned cold, forcing it way into his body like an icy fire—it _hurt_ , it hurt so bad, but what was worse was that Lloyd lost feeling to everything it touched, making him smaller and smaller until all that was left was the burning cold.

 _'You’re mine now,'_ the ghost crowed.

Everything went dark.

*****

When Lloyd woke up, everything was . . . wrong. Twisted. He could hear a voice, but it sounded like he was underwater.

Hang on, was that _his_ voice?!

Lloyd tried to open his eyes, tried to jerk upright, but he _couldn’t_. It wasn’t like he’d been paralyzed, though— _there was simply nothing to move_.

It was dark, and there was nothing, and Lloyd was most definitely panicking which felt wrong because _he didn’t even have a body to panic with_ —

 _‘You’re awake.’_ It was the ghost’s voice, sounding mildly surprised, but it came from every direction and no direction at all. It was as if the voice was in his hea—

No. Oh, no, _please_ no. This couldn’t be happening. _This couldn’t be happening!_

The ghost laughed. 

_NO!_

_‘Fighting isn’t going to help anything.’_ The ghost sounded cruelly smug. _‘Here, I’ll show you.’_

And then Lloyd could see. He was looking at the two policemen, listening to their questions—and then Lloyd’s voice responded. Except Lloyd wasn’t saying anything, he _couldn’t_ say anything! 

“—madly delusional,” Lloyd’s voice was saying. “He stole the armor _himself_. He was wearing it underneath that blanket. I’d suggest that he get medical treatment."

The policemen were both frowning. The older one shook his head. “I knew it was only a matter of time. There’s only so many nights someone can spend alone, in the dark, with _wax figures of villains_ without going mad.”

“It’s a shame, though,” the other policeman added. “I liked him. He seemed nice.”

“One question,” the first policeman said. “We heard a scream?”

Lloyd—not Lloyd—it was Lloyd’s voice, though—huffed out a laugh. “Once I realized that the watchman was wearing the armor, I approached him to help him get it off. I think he thought I was attacking him, seeing as he screamed.”

Lloyd wanted to scream. He _tried_ to scream, tried to do _anything_ —but nothing worked. The full reality of the situation hit him so he kept silently screaming anyway. The ghost was controlling his body just like he’d controlled everything else. And Lloyd could do _nothing_ to stop him.

 _‘Yeesh, quiet down,’_ the ghost said, sounding slightly annoyed. He was piloting Lloyd’s body down the museum’s front steps, pulling Lloyd’s hood over Lloyd’s head. _‘Now, where are we going?’_ he mused.

Lloyd’s mind must have broken, because suddenly he was remembering that morning with such vivid detail that it was almost like he was reliving it.

 _‘What in the_ world _are you all wearing?’_ the ghost asked, sounding almost scandalized. _‘Are those teapots?’_

No. That wasn’t—no. The ghost _couldn’t_ be seeing the memory too. Except he _was_ , and he was skipping ahead, flipping through moments like pages in a book as he followed Lloyd’s path from the tea shop to the museum, dragging Lloyd through all of them.

_The ghost was reading his memories._

Lloyd started screaming again. 

_‘Shut up, or as soon as I get back to the tea shop I’m going to strangle your friends.’_

Lloyd stopped, but it was more out of surprise than anything. The ghost was going back to the tea shop?

 _‘Of course I am,’_ the ghost snarked, apparently having heard his question. _‘After all, that’s why I’m here—I want your life.’_

Oh. He was going to try to imitate Lloyd—to _become_ him. For the first time, Lloyd intentionally replied to the ghost. _‘Why would you want my life?’_ he asked, flabbergasted. His life, with the apparently endless battles and eternal danger. His life, with the fate of the _entire world_ continually on his shoulders.

 _‘You’re the Green Ninja,’_ the ghost replied incredulously. _‘Why wouldn’t someone want your life?’_

That left Lloyd speechless. Then a thought occurred to him, and hope surged. _‘My friends are going to know you aren’t me!’_ he said. _‘You’ll never be able to fool them, and they’ll get rid of you!’_

The ghost laughed. It was an awful, awful sound. _‘You stupid child. They won’t notice a thing.’_

Lloyd did his best to somehow communicate the equivalent of a glare. The ghost didn’t know his friends—his _family_. He had every faith that they would figure it out.

*****

Lloyd wanted to cry. He couldn’t, which was _part of the freaking problem_. Two months. It’d been _two months_ , and his family hadn’t noticed a thing. The ghost—whose name was Morro, Lloyd had found out—was either a really good actor, or his family didn’t care for Lloyd as much as he had thought they had. Morro exploited Lloyd’s memories to the max—learning mannerisms, retorts and comebacks, learning all of the little inside jokes that Lloyd had built with his siblings over the years. He seamlessly inserted himself into Lloyd’s place, and no one had batted an eye.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Morro liked to play with him. He’d make him watch when Morro interacted with his family, taunting him the entire time, and then when he was busy doing Lloyd’s tasks he’d force Lloyd back into the nothingness, trapping him alone with his emotions and thoughts. But the nights—the nights were the worst. While Morro let Lloyd’s body sleep, he’d drag Lloyd’s consciousness through every terror he could conceive—forcing Lloyd to relieve his worst memories, every sense dialed up to eleven, locking Lloyd in endless nightmares that ranged from disturbing to downright terrifying, and sometimes even a mix of the two, dragging him from memory to nightmare to memory until he couldn’t remember what had actually happened, or if the entire thing had been a nightmare in the first place.

The worst part was when Morro forced Lloyd to listen to his violent musings. _‘I could kill him right now,’_ Morro had once thought while playing video games with Jay. _‘I could reach over and snap his neck. That’d be fun, wouldn’t it?’_ And there were more, dozens of violent fantasies of what Morro wanted to do to Lloyd’s family. _Could_ do, at any given point. Lloyd wouldn’t be able to stop him, and Morro knew that. The ghost rubbed it in whenever he could.

It wasn’t like Lloyd hadn’t tried to fight. He’d had—he’d fought and fought, but the most he’d ever been able to do was distract Morro long enough that he’d trip—either over his words or an object, depending. But nothing had actually come of it, and Morro’s punishment each time he fought was specially saved for such instances—dragging Lloyd into Morro’s imagination so that he could experience the deaths of his family first-hand, by _his_ hands. Lloyd shut down for a while after those, mutely watching Morro go about Lloyd’s day without so much as a peep. Eventually, Lloyd had given up completely. It wasn’t worth the pain.

The only relief that Lloyd got was that Morro hadn’t done anything to his family yet. Despite his threats and musings and daydreams, Morro didn’t seem to want to rock the boat, apparently content in Lloyd’s life.

Currently, Morro was on patrol. He moved from rooftop to rooftop with ease, dutifully scanning the streets below for criminals. He was quieter when on patrol, apparently actually caring about his—Lloyd’s—duties. He still made nasty comments every so often, though. Lloyd was watching silently, not wanting to draw his attention.

And then Lloyd noticed her. It was only a glimpse in the corner of his—Morro’s?—their?—vision, but he noticed all the same. 

And Morro noticed that he had noticed. He backtracked, turning to scan the people below until his gaze settled on her.

She was at her stall, as always.

Morro flipped through the memories, dragging Lloyd along with him, then snickered. _‘You couldn’t even talk to your crush? How weak.’_

Lloyd didn’t respond. 

_‘What if I decided to have a little fun with her—’_

_‘Leave her alone!’_ Lloyd demanded desperately. 

Morro flipped through a few more memories. _‘You don’t even know her name? How pathetic is that?’_

_‘Just—leave her alone. Please. She has nothing to do with any of this.’_

Morro finished his browsing. _‘I don’t think I will.’_

_‘No!’_

_‘I don’t think I’ll hurt her, though,’_ Morro continued. _‘She is a pretty thing. How about if I made her mine instead?’_

 _‘Don’t . . .’_ Lloyd protested weakly. It wasn’t going to do anything. It never did anything.

Morro seemed to be thinking. _‘You know, I’m getting a little bored of our usual games. How about we start a new one?’_

No. Please, no.

 _‘I think I’m going to have fun with little miss princess down there, but as for you—well, it’s somewhat dull, having you all quiet. If you want to fight me while I’m with this girl, I won’t punish you. It’ll be another challenge while trying to get her to fall for me—while pretending to be you, of course.’_ He laughed. Lloyd couldn't find the words to express how much he hated that laugh—hated _Morro_.

It didn’t stop him from trying.

 _‘Language,’_ Morro chided.

And then Morro was moving, slipping over the edge of the roof and making his way to the sidewalk below. It was late, the just-set sun making the undersides of the clouds above glow. The streets were already covered in shadows, though the streetlights hadn’t turned on yet. There was no one out on the sidewalks, save the stray straggler. The girl was obviously in the act of locking up her stall.

Morro approached her, pulling off Lloyd’s hood. “Hi,” he called.

The girl looked up—and she was even more beautiful up close. She was wearing a form-fitting t-shirt and some sort of cross between leggings and jeans, her hair pulled back in the same ponytail as always. Lloyd was definitely staring—it wasn’t like he could do much else—so it took him a few moments to realize that Morro was staring too.

“Hi?” the girl replied hesitantly. She set down the apron she’d been holding, tilting her head curiously.

“Sorry for sneaking up on you so late, but I was passing by and saw your stall. I was kind of curious what you sell as people don’t really sell things from stalls anymore, you know?” As always, Morro was imitating Lloyd _perfectly_. That was _exactly_ what Lloyd would have said, inflections and all.

 _‘Having fun yet?’_ Lloyd asked Morro sourly.

_‘Stupid ninja. I’m only getting started.’_

If Lloyd could have sighed, he would have. That’s what he’d been afraid of. He supposed he should be raging, but he’d been stretched too thin. He couldn’t work up the energy to do much more than watch.

The girl smiled. “I sell a lot of things, actually. I’m kind of like a tinker.”

“What’s a tinker?”

“They were travelling storekeepers, back before tech was a thing. They’d travel around in carts and make and sell a variety of items. A jack-of-all-trades nomad craftsman would be a good way to put it. Of course, I stay put.” The girl tucked a strand of hair that was hanging in her face behind her ear. “And as for why the stall—well, vendor’s permit is way cheaper than rent.”

Morro laughed Lloyd’s laugh. “That makes sense. Space is way overpriced here.”

“Unfortunately.” The girl finished locking down the stall, then turned to them. “Well, as fun as it is to talk to the Green Ninja, I need to get going.”

“We could talk more sometime?” Morro suggested in a hopeful tone. “Tomorrow?”

The girl looked surprised for a moment, then she grinned. “Well, my lunch break is from eleven to noon. I eat at the cafe over there,” she pointed at a cozy-looking shop across and down the street, “if you want to join me.”

Lloyd was stunned. Did she just—she just agreed to have what sounded like a _date_. With _Morro_. 

The ghost was crowing with triumph inside of Lloyd’s head. _‘It’s going to be so fun breaking her heart,’_ Morro taunted.

 _‘You’re a monster,’_ Lloyd snarled back.

Morro laughed. _‘If you hadn’t figured that out by now, you’re more hopeless than I thought.’_

Oh, Lloyd had figured it out a long time ago.

“I’ll be there,” Morro promised the girl.

The girl smirked. “If you’re not, the reason why had better be on the news.”

“Of course, uh . . .” Morro intentionally trailed off, giving her an opening.

“Katie,” the girl supplied. “Katie Alivon.” She was fiddling with her hair again, her ponytail pulled over one shoulder. Her other hand was on her hip.

“Katie,” Morro repeated.

“Can I call you Lloyd?” she asked. Of course she knew his name, she’d have to be blind and deaf not to. Except she wasn’t talking to Lloyd right now.

Lloyd’s anger—which had long since been smothered—reignited.

“Yeah,” Morro replied. Then he did something Lloyd would never have done—he stepped forward, taking Katie’s hand and bringing it up to kiss her knuckles.

Lloyd chose that moment to act. He lashed out with everything he had, throwing Morro off-balance enough so that instead of kissing her hand, Morro’s teeth caught at her skin.

Katie pulled her hand back. “Easy there,” she said warningly.

When Morro straightened, his blush was real. “Sorry,” he muttered to her. _‘You’re going to pay for that,’_ he shot at Lloyd.

 _‘You said I wouldn’t,’_ Lloyd shot back, riding the high of his tiny victory. _‘That’s the new game, remember?’_

Morro didn’t really get the chance to respond to him, as Katie said, “Well, see you tomorrow, Lloyd.” She looked happy, but also wary? Which made sense. Morro had almost bitten her.

“See you tomorrow.”

Then Katie was walking away, the backpack that Lloyd hadn’t noticed her grab slung over one shoulder. Morro smirked at her back, then made his way back to the rooftops.

Resuming patrol, Morro decided to share some of his more violent plans for Katie. It wasn’t long before Lloyd wanted to cry again.

*****

The lunch-date went surprisingly well, despite Lloyd’s efforts to mess Morro up. As did the next one, and the next, and the ones after that. After a week or so the other ninja started noticing Lloyd’s—Morro’s—absences, and after two weeks Kai cornered them in the tea shop, right as Morro was about to leave for another date.

“Where do you keep running off to?” Kai asked jokingly. There were serious undertones, though, letting both Morro and Lloyd know that he was going to get an explanation. After the ninja’s powers had suddenly cut out all those weeks ago, they’d been a bit more wary than usual—but Lloyd was fine and no big villain had popped up, so everyone made do while Wu and Misako researched what could have happened. So far they hadn’t made any progress, as every answer kept circling back to “something’s wrong with Lloyd”, and Lloyd was fine.

Morro had a laughing fit each time they reported another “dead end”.

Either way, Kai was being somewhat overprotective of all of them again. The hotheaded ninja either disregarded all the signs of a disaster or was paranoid because of them, and this time he’d leaned towards the latter.

“I’m going on patrol?” Morro ventured, imitating Lloyd perfectly.

“Yeah, right. I don’t believe that.” Kai crossed his arms, looking at Lloyd—Morro—sternly.

“Kai . . .” Morro whined.

 _‘I am_ not _that whiny,’_ Lloyd grumbled. 

_‘No, you’re much more. You’re a whiny little brat,’_ Morro countered.

“Spill, little bro,” Kai demanded.

Morro sighed. “I’m going on a date . . .”

“ _What?!_ ” Kai screeched.

“Woah, is everything okay out there?” Cole asked, sticking his head out of the back room.

“ _You’re going on a date?!_ ” Kai shouted at Morro.

“Wait, what?” Cole said, coming into the room fully. He rounded on Morro. “Lloyd, you’re going on a date?”

Morro crossed his arms, sighing in exasperation. “Yeah, I am.”

“With who?” Cole and Kai demanded simultaneously.

 _‘With the ghost who jumped my skin and tortures me on a nightly basis,’_ Lloyd commented darkly. It wasn’t like he could actually go on _anything_ —a ferris wheel, a bus, a date— _without_ his tormentor.

Surprisingly enough, that made Morro silently laugh.

“Her name’s Katie,” Morro said. “She’s nice.”

“She could be a serpentine for all you know!” Kai shouted.

Morro blinked at him. “I mean, I’m like 99% sure that she’s not . . .”

“Oh, leave him alone, Kai,” Cole said. “The kid can take care of himself. It’s just a _date_.”

“It’s just a what now?” Jay asked, coming into the room. He was carrying so many metallic odds and ends that he had to lean around the stack to see anyone. “Who’s going on a date?”

“Lloyd is,” Kai said.

Jay dropped everything with a crash. “Wait, _seriously?_ ”

Morro groaned. “Guys, c’mon . . .”

“Who’s the girl?” Jay squealed. He was practically bouncing.

“If I don’t go now, I’m going to be late,” Morro shot back. He made an escape for the door, and actually got out—and almost crashed into Nya.

“Woah! Easy there.”

“Sorry—gotta go,” Morro dashed around her, sprinting down the path.

*****

Lloyd was ready to scream by the time they got to the cafe. Was ready to scream a hundred times over, actually—as soon as they’d gotten out of sight of the tea shop, Morro had started fantasizing about the most entertaining ways to kill the ninja. Most of the ideas were slow, painful and outright disturbing, but it was the _screams_ that got to Lloyd the most—Morro always imagined the screams of each person as they were killed each way, and to say it was awful was a massive understatement. _Scarring_ would probably be closer if Lloyd hadn’t already been scarred a thousand times over by this point.

After thirteen different methods of death, Lloyd wasn’t really registering where they were anymore. He simply waited for the now-familiar sight of Katie’s face.

Once he did, _then_ he screamed.

It was at least somewhat satisfying that Morro spilled his soda all over Lloyd’s jeans. He even broke character for a moment, using a word that Lloyd had never said out loud in his life.

After that, all Lloyd really wanted to do was lose consciousness, but he hadn’t been able to do that since that one time right after Morro possessed him. He settled for zoning everything out, as usual.

Some unknown amount of time later, Morro started flipping through his memories, which was unusual. He usually only did that when they were alone. In the spaces between flashbacks, Lloyd zoned back in to see Katie looking at them expectantly.

Morro didn’t seem to find what he was looking for as he silently growled. _‘What do you want to do when you’re older?’_ he demanded.

Lloyd almost laughed. The ghost who was indefinitely possessing him just asked _what?_

 _‘Katie asked,’_ Morro snarled. _‘And you’d better tell me or you’ll be punished tonight.’_

At that, Lloyd panicked. He had no idea what he wanted to do when he was older, he’d never thought that far ahead. After the second time of having tentative plans upended, he’d stopped making them. So he blurted out the first thing he could think of. _‘I wanted to become a vet.’_

Morro relayed the answer to Katie. She smiled. “That’s sweet.” Then the conversation continued, and Morro left Lloyd to zone out again.

Lloyd only zoned back in near the end of the date, as Morro and Katie were both standing. Katie was slinging her backpack over her shoulder, a smile on her face and her head tilted in amusement. Morro was telling her about the time Lloyd had pranked all the ninja, back when he was still a kid—and when he got to the part about Zane’s pink gi, Katie laughed out loud.

It was still a beautiful laugh.

They left the cafe and said goodbyes. Katie went back to her stall, and Morro started winding his way through the streets to the bus station.

Morro’s musings about how he should crush Katie’s heart were interrupted as he found something in Lloyd’s jacket pocket—it was a long, thin strip of paper with a single line of loopy writing in the center.

_L, meet me at the pond in the park at the same time of day we first spoke. I want to talk to you about something. -K_

_‘She’s good,’_ Morro commented in surprise. _‘I didn’t even notice.’_

 _‘Are you gonna go?’_ Lloyd asked flatly. He honestly didn’t know if he wanted Morro to go or not at this point, both had their pros and cons. He really didn’t want Morro to be with Katie, but if he did go and see her he’d at least leave him alone for a while.

Morro laughed. _‘An opportunity like this? Of course I’m going to go.’_ Then he shoved Lloyd into the nothingness, which was something of a relief. It was the closest to rest that Lloyd was going to get.

*****

Morro “woke up” Lloyd just in time for him to see Katie walking down a path towards them, a conspiratorial smile on her face. It took a moment for Lloyd to orient himself—they were sitting on a bench in the park near the center of Ninjago City, the last light of the setting sun reflecting off of the surface of a decent-sized pond. Lloyd didn’t think that he’d been here before.

Katie sat down next to them and Morro smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi yourself,” Katie replied, her eyes twinkling. “I’m glad you got my note.”

Morro shifted to face her a little more. “Why’d you write it, though? Why couldn’t you talk to me about whatever it is at the cafe? Not that I’m upset,” he added. “Just curious.”

Katie bit her lip. “Well, it is a tiny anniversary of sorts,” she offered.

It was, technically. Sort of. “Two weeks since first talking to each other isn’t much of an anniversary,” Morro countered lightly.

For once, Lloyd actually agreed with the ghost, which Lloyd didn't like.

“Well,” Katie said slowly. “I was also kind of hoping that we could make today an anniversary for something else.” She looked up at them hopefully. 

Morro blinked at her, confused. Katie gave a short, exasperated sigh, then pointedly looked from Morro’s—Lloyd’s—eyes to his lips, then back up at his eyes again.

Morro apparently understood, silently crowing with triumph.

 _‘What are you so excited about?’_ Lloyd asked, confused.

 _‘She wants me to kiss her, idiot,’_ Morro explained smugly.

Oh. _Oh._ Lloyd didn’t like that. Not that the thought of kissing her was bad, but it wasn’t _him_ who was gonna kiss her. It was the ghost who hijacked his body.

Lloyd wanted to be sick.

Katie tilted her head expectantly. Morro leaned in, closing his eyes—

Pain. Hot, burning pain, knifing through Lloyd’s ribs before blazing through the rest of him. Lloyd and Morro screamed in tandem, then everything went dark.

*****

When Lloyd regained consciousness, he was in a bed. The sheets were nice, though the blanket was making him really hot. As his eyes focused he gradually realized that he didn’t recognize the room he was in. What he could see was simply decorated, only a few nature pictures on the wall across from him. The nightstand next to the bed held a lamp and a few trinkets that looked like souvenirs, and a door was set just a little farther down the wall the bed was against.

Lloyd blinked, confused. A few moments later his mind processed that _he_ had blinked, not Morro. Instantly he focused inwards, searching for any sign of the ghost.

He was gone.

Morro was _gone_.

Lloyd burst into tears. It wasn’t what he’d expected would happen, considering that he was thanking every power that had any influence in the universe that the ghost was somehow gone. He guessed it was more a culmination of everything he hadn’t been able to express over the last ten weeks—fear, pain, anger, hopelessness. And in an odd way it felt almost nice, crying. It was nice that he was _able_ to cry again.

Some time later, Lloyd finally started to calm down. It was only then that he realized that someone had pulled him into their arms and was gently stroking his hair as they hummed. He twisted, trying to look up at them—

It was _Katie_. 

Lloyd stared up at her, confused.

She smiled softly. “Hey, Lloyd.”

That sent him into another round of sobbing, which was mildly embarrassing. Katie didn’t seem to care, though, just held him tighter.

Eventually, Lloyd fell asleep.

*****

When Lloyd woke up again, he was oddly calm. The fact that he felt safe—which hadn’t happened since before his possession—probably contributed to it, as did the fact that he was comfortable. He was in the same bed as before, but this time facing the other way. There was a vanity against this wall, a mess of jewelry and makeup scattered across it. From his position the mirror only reflected the wall behind him, the one with the nature photographs.

Lloyd slowly climbed out of bed. It felt weird, moving himself again—not that he’d want it any other way. It took a bit more concentration than he remembered to make his way to the door, which he opened carefully. A typical hallway with identical doors was behind it, the other end letting out into a large room. Lloyd followed it and found himself in the center of a kitchen-living room area.

Katie was on a couch to Lloyd’s right, in the living-room area. She’d stirred as soon as he’d come into the room, and now she was rubbing her eyes as she looked up at him.

Oh. Lloyd felt a pang of guilt as he realized he must have been sleeping in _her_ bed—

Katie pointed at him. “Don’t you _dare_ feel guilty, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon. It’s the _least_ you deserve after all of the crap you’ve been through.”

Lloyd blinked at her. “How did you—”

“—guess what you were feeling?” Katie finished. She shrugged. “I’m good at reading people.”

“. . . That’s a little bit creepy,” Lloyd said. Immediately he winced. Wonderful thing to say to a sort of stranger who let you sleep in their bed.

Katie simply snorted, kicking her blanket off. She was still in the same outfit Lloyd had last seen her in. “If _you’re_ saying so, I’ll accept it.”

Lloyd was processing that when the floor tilted underneath him. Katie gave a startled cry, darting forward and just barely catching him before he slammed into the ground.

“Sorry,” Lloyd mumbled into her shoulder as she carefully lowered them to sit. The room was spinning, so he squeezed his eyes shut.

“ _You_ have nothing to be sorry about,” Katie retorted. “If anyone here should be apologizing, _I_ should.”

“Why should you be apologizing?” Lloyd asked, confused. He felt like he’d missed something.

Katie sighed. “I used to be able to confirm and deal with a possession in _hours_. Yours took _two weeks_.”

“You . . . what?” Okay, Lloyd was definitely lost now. Somehow he managed to understand at least part of what she’d said. “You’ve seen possessions before?” 

“Yeah. They’re rare, but I come across them every once and a while.”

Lloyd carefully pushed himself away so he could see her properly. She was scowling, which was . . . a good look on her, actually. 

As Lloyd continued to look at her, Katie’s scowl turned into a blush. 

Lloyd’s brain finally finished putting the pieces together. “ _You_ got rid of Morro?”

“Yep,” Katie said weakly. 

“ _How?_ ” 

“With this.” She reached for the end table at the end of the sofa, just barely snagging whatever it was. She held it up for him to see. It was a dagger, the hilt made of an intricate silver metal and decorated with symbols Lloyd recognized from some of Mom’s archeology books. The blade was . . . _not there_. Not completely, anyway. It was transparent, glowing a sort of greenish, and as Katie turned it for him to study the blade completely vanished from some angles.

“It’s a ghost-blade,” Katie explained. “Unless you’re planning to give someone a bruise with the hilt, it only injures ghosts—though it still hurts like you've been injured if you get cut with it, which is why I don’t stab everyone I meet.”

A dozen questions bubbled in Lloyd’s mind, but he ended up staring at her in disbelief instead.

Katie raised an eyebrow. “What, only ninjas can have adventures?”

At that, Lloyd started to laugh. It was like the crying for earlier, just as uncontrolled and wild, but opposite. It was the good feelings—mostly relief. Katie giggled with him, pulling him into a hug—and oh, that felt really, really nice. Lloyd let himself relax against her, practically going limp in her arms.

After they were calm enough to have enough air to talk, Lloyd asked, “What now?”

“Well, you should probably go home. See your family, get some rest.”

At the word _family_ Lloyd’s throat closed up. It wasn’t fair—he _knew_ they cared for him. But, none of them had noticed.

Katie must have sensed the shift in his mood because she held him a little tighter. “Ghosts are good at what they do,” she said softly, rubbing calming circles on his back with one hand. “Scarily good. One of my best friends was possessed for over a year, and in the end I only figured it out because she fell in a pool—water hurts ghosts a little, if you hadn’t noticed, though they’re good at covering it up. They copy _everything_ —from the way you fidget to your expression when you don’t like something to your inside jokes to, well, everything. The only hints are when they fumble because their host is fighting—like when the ghost who possessed you almost bit my hand—and if they show a sudden aversion to water. And if you have no reason to be suspicious, because everything the person is doing still seems like _them_ , those little things are so, so easily overlooked.”

“You noticed,” Lloyd mumbled.

“ _I_ have experience with ghosts, not to mention I got a huge tip-off within five minutes of first talking to it. And even _then_ it still took me two weeks to be sure.”

They were quiet for a moment, then Katie added, “I’m sure that your family are going to be kicking themselves to the moon once we let them know.”

“We?” Lloyd sounded so, so small when he said that word.

“If you want. I can come with you.”

Lloyd hesitated, then nodded. He didn’t want to have to explain all of . . . everything.

“After you rest,” Katie continued, “you’re gonna start going to therapy—don’t you dare protest, Lloyd Garmadon, I’m willing to bet that you’ve needed it long before this latest chapter of crap. And then,” she pulled back, maneuvering Lloyd so she could look him in the eyes. “You’re gonna take me out on an official first date. If you’re still interested, of course, but considering that you’ve been stopping by to watch me work for six months, I’m hoping you are.”

Lloyd blushed. “You noticed?”

Katie barked out a laugh. “You may be a ninja, but your gi is still _bright green_. It doesn’t exactly blend in with the sky.”

“Oh.” Lloyd couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he snuggled up against her again instead. She held him back, rubbing circles on his back again.

After a few moments of scattered thoughts, Lloyd mumbled, “Sorry I’m so pathetic.”

Katie froze, then hugged him tighter. “Lloyd, you’re the _opposite_ of pathetic. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. Crying, needing time to heal—even the fact that you’ve _gotten_ injured in the first place doesn’t mean you’re weak. It doesn’t mean you’re inadequate. It means you’re human, and you never need to be or will be any more than that.”

Lloyd processed that, then closed his eyes.

Everything was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments so if you have any feel free to post 'em ;)


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